Gifts: Ahroun
The Ahroun Gifts These Gifts are the secrets given to Gaia's children by Luna. She bid her many servants teach the Garou their various tricks, arming them with magical skills with which to protect Gaia. While all Garou are Gaia's warriors, the Ahroun are the fighters among fighters. Burning with the gift of Luna's Rage, Ahroun channel their righteous fury into terrible weapons or cunning leadership on the battlefield. Rank 1 Falling Touch This Gift allows the Garou to send her foe sprawling with but a touch. Any aerial spirit can teach this Gift. System: The player rolls Willpower (difficulty of the opponent's Stamina + Athletics). Even one success sends the victim to the ground. This Gift may be employed through even the lightest, brushing contact at no cost, or may be delivered through an attack by paying one point of Willpower or Rage. Such attacks inflict full damage in addition to knocking the target prone. Inspiration Other werewolves look to the Ahroun for leadership in battle, and this Gift helps them to live up to that trust. The werewolf employs this Gift to lend her resolve and righteous anger to those who share her cause. A lion- or wolf-spirit teaches it. System: The player spends one Gnosis point. All comrades (but not the Gift's user) receive one Willpower point, which disappears if it is not used before the end of the scene. Pack Tactics While the Ahroun's role as the overall leader of Garou is questionable, there's no doubt at all who should take control of the pack in battle. By taking the lead and coordinating pack actions, the Ahroun gifts all her packmates with great competence in the heat of battle. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a Willpower point before initiating a Pack Tactics maneuver and divides a pool of extra dice equal to her Leadership score among everyone performing the maneuver. The dice should be divided as evenly as possible, although the player may choose where to distribute extra dice (or in case of the Ahroun's Leadership score granting fewer dice than the number of packmates involved). Razor Claws By raking his claws over stone, steel, or some other hard surface, the werewolf hones them to razor sharpness. A cat- or bear-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Rage point and the Ahroun takes a full turn sharpening her claws. All claw attacks do two additional dice of damage and are made at –1 difficulty for the rest of the scene. Spur Claws In ancient times, Ahroun warriors made common cause with the spirit-Queen of Bees. As her own hive-children rallied to protect her, so too did the Garou fight in defense of Gaia, and the Queen decreed that they should be properly equipped for the fight. This Gift, taught by a bee-spirit in recognition of that alliance, allows the Ahroun to transform her claws into hooked and barbed spurs. System: The player spends one Rage. The next successful claw attack the character makes buries her claws into the victim, where they stick after breaking free from the werewolf's fingertips. Until the victim takes the time to pull them out (which takes a full turn), they suffer +2 difficulty to all actions. The Garou's claws take a full turn to regenerate. Rank 2 Sense Silver To those truly born Garou, Luna has granted the ability to sense a werewolf's greatest weakness. This Gift, taught by Lunes, allows the metis to detect the presence of silver. System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). If successful, she can detect the presence of any silver within 100 yards. Three successes allow her to pinpoint the silver's location. Shield of Rage Such is the Rage burning within an Ahroun's heart that all lesser furies quail before it. A wolverine-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Willpower point. For the rest of the scene, all spirits' Rage scores are considered two less than their real values for the purpose of rolling damage against the Ahroun. Spirit of the Fray A cat-spirit grants the Ahroun the Gift of blinding speed and lightning reflexes, permitting her to strike before any foe. System: Once the Ahroun learns this Gift, its effects are permanent. She adds 10 to all her initiative rolls, and if she chooses, may spend a Gnosis point to add another 10 to an initiative roll (such an expenditure prevents spending Rage for extra actions, however). True Fear The werewolf displays his full, terrifying might -- baring teeth or claws, howling, or simply looming ominously over a foe. Terror strikes one foe into quiescence. Spirits of fear teach this Gift. System: The player rolls Strength + Intimidation (difficulty equal to the target's Willpower). Each success cows the enemy for one turn; the victim cannot attack during this time, but may defend himself and otherwise act normally (although his actions are likely guided by overwhelming terror). Rank 3 Combat Healing This Gift allows the werewolf to mend his injuries without rest or hesitation -- even in the heart of combat -- as claws and bullets tear fresh rents in his flesh. While other Garou struggle to mend their wounds under fire, the Ahroun never stops fighting. Elemental spirits teach this Gift, although they must generally be bested in battle first. System: The Ahroun no longer needs to pause or roll Stamina to heal during combat, and automatically regenerates one non-aggravated health level every round. This benefit is permanent. Heart of Fury The Garou steels himself against anger, suppressing his Rage and creating a mental wall to hold back the tide of righteous fury that threatens to drown him. The anger always returns, however, and the Garou had best be ready to pay its bill. A boar-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Willpower (difficulty equals the character's permanent Rage). Every two successes add +1 to the character's frenzy difficulties for the scene, making it harder to frenzy. When the scene ends, past slights and injuries come rushing back to haunt the werewolf, refilling his heart and soul. He must spend one Willpower point or make an immediate frenzy check at regular difficulty. Silver Claws Luna sends her children to teach this powerful but painful Gift to those warriors who gain her favor. When invoked, it transforms the werewolf's claws into silver. System: The player rolls Gnosis (difficulty 7) to activate this Gift. Silver claws inflict aggravated damage to all targets, and are naturally unsoakable to Garou and most other Fera. The Ahroun suffers searing agony while manifesting these silver claws. Each turn, she gains an automatic Rage point, and all non-combat difficulties increase by one because of the distraction. On each turn that her Rage points exceed her Willpower, she must check for frenzy. The Gift lasts for one scene, unless the Garou takes a turn to voluntarily end it sooner. Wind Claws The Ahroun's claws and fangs pass through the flimsy protections of their enemies as though they were but air and hope. An air elemental teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Rage point. For the rest of the turn, all of the Ahroun's natural attacks completely ignore any armor (mundane or magical) that targets might be wearing; the targets forfeit all soak dice from such protection. Rank 4 Body Shift Garou raised in the shifting maze of human society are well-prepared for the endless adaptations Gaia demands of her protectors. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The Garou can use her shapeshifting to alter her physical Attributes: A dot of Dexterity can be shifted to Strength or Stamina, and so forth. The player rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 9). For each two successes, one physical Attribute dot can be shifted for the rest of the scene. Clenched Jaw The werewolf bites down with such power that her grip won't loosen until she chooses to let it; even in death, her jaws remain locked. A wolf- or hyena-spirit teaches this Gift. System: After making a successful bite attack, the player may spend a Rage point to invoke this Gift. For each successive turn she chooses to maintain her grip, she makes a bite attack roll (difficulty 3). While foes can make a resisted Strength roll to break the grip (suffering an additional health level of damage in the process of trying to tear free), the Garou may add half her Willpower to her dice pool (round up). Full Moon’s Light The full moon is Luna's warrior phase, when she searches out her enemies. The Ahroun can call upon her determination in finding her foes, illuminating any who oppose her. Lunes teach this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point. For the remainder of the scene, anyone within one mile who is working against the Ahroun or her pack emits a soft glow, as though illuminated by moonlight. This Gift can be used to confound powers of stealth or even invisibility, but only if the target is actively attempting to harm, compete with, or otherwise foil the Ahroun or her pack. Stoking Fury’s Furnace This Gift allows the Garou to husband his Rage, keeping it burning for as long as Gaia's enemies remain to be defeated. A wolverine-spirit teaches it. System: This Gift's effects are permanent. The werewolf regains one Rage point during any turn in which he takes damage. This Rage does not cause a frenzy check, though other sources will induce checks as usual. Additionally, the player can spend one Rage point per turn without losing any temporary Rage. If multiple Rage points are spent during any turn, however, all are marked off. Rank 5 Kiss of Helios The Ahroun can invoke the sun's power to gain immunity to flame. Additionally, she may ignite any portion of her body and keep it burning as she desires. Garou with this Gift are as likely to light their mane to honor the sun during rituals as they are to ignite their claws or fangs in battle. A fire elemental or sun-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis. For the rest of the scene, the character is unharmed by any natural source of flames or heat. Artificial (napalm, gas fires, etc.) and supernatural flames can inflict no more than a single level of bashing damage during a turn. The character inflicts two additional dice of aggravated damage with burning attacks. Strength of Will A werewolf with this Gift is a pillar of indomitable will. He can share this terrifying strength with others as well, leading them through the gates of Malfeas without a moment's fear or hesitation. A wolf-spirit or an Incarna avatar teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a point of Willpower and rolls Charisma + Leadership (difficulty 8). Each success grants all the Garou's allies within 100 feet (and her packmates anywhere within 100 miles) an extra point of Willpower. The extra points last for the rest of the scene and may raise an ally's Willpower above its maximum (and even above 10). This Gift can only be used once per scene. Rank 6 Unstoppable Warrior The werewolf with this potent Gift may shrug off even flames and the claws of his own kind. A warrior Incarna teaches this Gift. System: The Garou becomes permanently capable of healing all aggravated damage as though it were lethal damage, save for wounds inflicted by silver.